MAY 30 – Authorities in Vietnam have detected a new coronavirus variant that is a combination of the Indian and UK COVID-19 variants.
Vietnam’s Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said on May 29 that the hybrid variant spreads quickly by air and described it as very dangerous.
“Vietnam has uncovered a new COVID-19 variant combining characteristics of the two existing variants first found in India and the UK,” Long said.
“The new one is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the UK variant and it is very dangerous,” he added.
Authorities would soon publish genome data of the newly identified variant, which he said was more transmissible than the previously known types.
Long said laboratory cultures of the new variant showed the virus replicated itself very quickly, possibly explaining why so many new cases had appeared in different parts of the country in a short period of time.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified four variants of SARS-CoV-2 of global concern. These include variants that emerged first in India, Britain, South Africa and Brazil.
Officials at the WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the variant identified in Vietnam. — Reuters
